Image: Austin Kirk Recently your social networking sites have probably be inundated with bare faced selfies for cancer awareness. You know what your reaction was to the scrubbed smiling faces, my guess is your first thought was - how many goes did they have at taking that selfie? And secondly how does this help cancer? Rather like the mysterious trend that occasionally reappears in which all the girls post tweets or Facebook statuses in which they share the colour of their bra or pants (always pink or black, never 'mixed wash grey' or 'caught short shit stained') to 'raise awareness' the current trend for the bare faced selfies has caused confusion about the importance of awareness and donation. There's no charge (yet) for posting selfies. Of course joke's on the cynical - as ever. There's been a massive surge in donations as people were prompted to include the number to text in order to donate to raise both awareness and funds for cancer charities.
Cancer Research were as baffled as most people about the No Make Up Selfie, issuing a statement on their Google + (Google +! I know, even more baffling) - "Thousands of you are posting #cancerawareness #nomakeupselfie pictures and many have asked if the campaign is ours. It's not but we love that people want to get involved!"
As far as I can tell from my research (Googling) no one has taken responsibility for the No Make Up Selfie. Though plenty of people have noted the narcissistic undertones in the idea of posting a selfie to advertise a good deed. And maybe great skin. But hey, that's social media! It's far less wasteful than bathing in a tub of baked beans.
What's interesting is that just as the No Make Up Selfie was gaining momentum GirlGuiding launched a new badge calledFree Being Me. The badge is about self acceptance and to get it a Girl Guide will have to attend two sessions on body image and display acceptance of their body. GirlGuiding has been very active in promoting a healthy body image, you can take the Be Body Confident pledge in which you promise to:
Be myself - and be proud of myself
Recognise and reject body image myths
Accept how I look and how others look
Value my body by treating it well
Encourage more people to #BeBodyConfident.
As far as I can tell from my research (Googling) no one has taken responsibility for the No Make Up Selfie. Though plenty of people have noted the narcissistic undertones in the idea of posting a selfie to advertise a good deed. And maybe great skin. But hey, that's social media! It's far less wasteful than bathing in a tub of baked beans.
What's interesting is that just as the No Make Up Selfie was gaining momentum GirlGuiding launched a new badge calledFree Being Me. The badge is about self acceptance and to get it a Girl Guide will have to attend two sessions on body image and display acceptance of their body. GirlGuiding has been very active in promoting a healthy body image, you can take the Be Body Confident pledge in which you promise to:
Be myself - and be proud of myself
Recognise and reject body image myths
Accept how I look and how others look
Value my body by treating it well
Encourage more people to #BeBodyConfident.
| It's a pretty healthy pledge and I'd wager the most important part of it is actually the part in which you pledge not just to accept how you look, but how others look. We need to get away from the idea that any form of body modification (I include heels and make up) is a denial of the 'true self'. | adornment is silly and if you partake in such things you're silly and you're wasting your own time |
Too often an example of true, pure self acceptance and confidence is boiled down to a scrubbed clean woman. Perhaps laughing into her salad or missing her face as she tries to drink water. You know why? Because adornment is silly and if you partake in such things you're silly and you're wasting your own time.
Here's the snag. I think we should be careful about what we deem silly or trivial. If you feel bad about something, be it your body, your face or your mind that is OK. It is OK to worry. It's normal to worry and you are not silly to feel better or more like yourself if you apply mascara.
There is a risk of self congratulatory puritism in things such as the No Make Up Selfie, or feminists who exclaim they don't use cosmetics and the constant articles and surveys that 'reveal' men prefer fresh-faced women. This is not actually very esteem raising, because it shows that you hold certain people, you know, those girls, in low esteem. The Free Being Me badge is a nice sentiment. I want girls, women, boys and men to feel free to be themselves (y'know, within reason, geez). But let's keep it focused on who you are, not how you choose to look.
You can help fund Cancer Research by texting BEAT to 70099 to donate £3 or visit www.cruk.org.
Squeamish Kate
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Wipe the Slate Clean
Selfie Respect
Here's the snag. I think we should be careful about what we deem silly or trivial. If you feel bad about something, be it your body, your face or your mind that is OK. It is OK to worry. It's normal to worry and you are not silly to feel better or more like yourself if you apply mascara.
There is a risk of self congratulatory puritism in things such as the No Make Up Selfie, or feminists who exclaim they don't use cosmetics and the constant articles and surveys that 'reveal' men prefer fresh-faced women. This is not actually very esteem raising, because it shows that you hold certain people, you know, those girls, in low esteem. The Free Being Me badge is a nice sentiment. I want girls, women, boys and men to feel free to be themselves (y'know, within reason, geez). But let's keep it focused on who you are, not how you choose to look.
You can help fund Cancer Research by texting BEAT to 70099 to donate £3 or visit www.cruk.org.
Squeamish Kate
Related Posts
Wipe the Slate Clean
Selfie Respect
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